(This is something I've recently posted to my personal online journals, in a slightly different form. I figure that many of my fellow Mudcatters like a bit of blather about words and what we do with them, so I thought I'd post it here, too)

Over recent years, I've become more politically aware and vocal about Disability Rights and History, and I've begun to pay attention to disability in our metaphors.

And it occurred to me recently that the whole use of "Crutch" as a derogatory term belies how many people assume we're all faking our disabilities: "I bet they could walk if they really tried; they're just too lazy to carry their own weight."

Compare that with Ladders as a metaphor: climbing the ladder of business success.

And really, crutches are more like ladders than they are not: both are tools to help us get higher than we're capable of, under own own power: ladders help us surmount a steep barrier, and crutches help us get our noses out of the mud. They even kind of look the same, if you think of the hand grip as a rung.

So:
I'm going start referring to them as "hand ladders" (like handsaw, or hand drill):

"Excuse me, could you help? My hand ladder fell over, and I can't reach it."

"Your what?"

"My crutch -- you know -- my hand ladder." And roll my eyes as if it were obvious.

It could be quite fun spreading a little linguistic chaos that way.